Chapter 157: Book 7 Chapter 18

She let out a groan and, grudgingly, opened her eyes.

Where in the world was she?

The lands around her were strange and dark, a black fog covered the area and distorted it. It was almost like the city was both a city and ruins at the same time. How did she get here?

She heard a few groans and looked around. “Hello?” she called out.

She didn’t receive an answer. Where was everyone? There were other people, weren’t there? There had to be. Why else would she be here? Why was she here?

She heard a loud thump ahead of her, through the thick fog. “Hello?” she asked again.

She heard nothing but more thumps and a light flapping sound. She paused and considered running away. Whatever it was, it might be dangerous.

But what if it was a person? What if someone was trapped here, unable to talk, and they needed her?

Well, wasn’t that their problem? It wasn’t her duty to help them. Right?

Yet, despite her worries, she found herself inexplicably drawn towards the sound. Maybe they knew what happened here or even where she was.

The thick fog seemed to cling to everything, as if it was trying to swallow the land itself. Still, she heard the light thumping ahead of her. She was getting closer. “Hello? Are you okay?” All she had to do was--

It was as if the fog parted and she could suddenly make out what that thumping sound was. A massive, horrific demon with six wings and a strange body like a scaled lion. So massive it could easily swallow her whole.

She stared up at it, her body shaking and willing herself to flee, but once the eyes of the monster turned on her she couldn’t even breathe, let alone run. It opened its massive mouth and let out a roar that made the land itself shake before jumping through the air towards her.

She internally screamed at her body to move, for her legs to run, her arms to grab something, anything, to pull away. But she couldn’t move. She was too scared.

Suddenly a hand grabbed her arm and pulled her back, into the fog. She couldn’t look away, but she could at least move her legs as her savior practically dragged her away from the beast. Within a few moments it was out of sight and she was pulled back against one of the fog-covered buildings and pinned there, her savior pushing back against it as well.

A moment later the monster ran past them, not seeming to notice the pair hiding. She let out a soft sigh of relief before turning to look at her savior. A strange, armored figure with glowing armor. That wasn’t what surprised her, though.

It was the fact that, somehow, something about the figure felt safe. Like she could trust them.

“You saved me,” she said softly.

“Saved is relative right now,” the figure said, their voice seeming to reverberate out from the armor. “It’s confused for now, but it won’t be forever. I’d suggest you hide and hope it decides to leave.”

“Leave?” she asked.

“Yes, leave,” the figure said before they started to pull away. She couldn’t help it. She reached out and grabbed their hand.

“Wait,” she said softly. “Please don’t leave me.”

The figure sighed before shaking their head. “Kid, trust me. You don’t want to come with me.”

“Yes I do,” she said. “I can’t remember anything. But when I look at you, I just feel like I can trust you. Like I’m safe with you.”

That made the figure stop and glance back. “I make you feel safe?”

“Yes,” she said.

“Wonderful. Then you’re probably tied to whatever brought me here,” the figure said before tugging her hand and beginning to walk. “Follow me. What’s your name?”

“I don’t know,” she said softly. “I just kind of woke up here. What happened?”

“I don’t entirely know,” the figure said. “One of the Chosen tampering with things they don’t understand. I’m Gil. I want you to think very, very hard about who you are. See if you can remember a name at all. It might make your head hurt a bit, but it shouldn’t be serious.”

She nodded, still clutching Gil’s hand and trying to keep up. They were fast, unfortunately. She tried, desperately, to remember what her name could be. What had someone called her? She let out a hiss of pain when she had a few words come to mind. “Brat?”

Gil gave a light chuckle. “I doubt that’s your name, but if I know you I probably called you that. Anything else?”

“Joan,” she said.

That made Gil pause for a moment before nodding. “Joan, huh? That’s a nice name. I knew a Joan once. You’re quite a bit too young to be her, though. Come along then, Joan.”

“What happened here?” Joan asked, still holding the hand. “You know what this fog is, don’t you?”

“Somewhat,” Gil said. “I know enough to know why I don’t know. It’s the remains of a… well. No. I suppose that’d just be confusing for you. There was a terrible, terrible demon long ago. So many lifetimes ago. What that demon killed ceased to have ever existed, at least to the world. All memories of it would fade entirely, information on it would wash away. Not just people, but locations. Entire cities. This fog is likely all that remains of it now, though it will likely fade as well.”

“I’m going to wash away?” Joan asked.

“No,” Gil said. “It was killed and its remains were crafted into a powerful blade. One of the Chosen destroyed this blade and it has had some unforeseen… consequences.”

“Why did they destroy it? Was it evil?” Joan asked.

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“No,” Gil said. “She was arrogant. But now so many things have been wiped I don’t even know why she did it. I don’t even remember why I was here. Are you certain you feel safe with me?”

“Yes,” Joan said. “I can’t say why, though.”

“I can’t, either,” Gil said, the annoyance in their voice even reverberating through the armor. “It’s at times like this that we have to try and piece everything together from what’s not there. The titanslayer is the same as it, so it wasn’t affected. I can remember Korgron and Chase, so the Chosen obviously weren’t removed. Everything and everyone else? Nothing. For all I know I came here to destroy this city or it could be that there was someone here I had to protect. I’m sorry.”

“Why are you sorry?” Joan asked.

“If you feel you can trust me,” Gil said. “Obviously, I failed to keep you safe. Or maybe I didn’t want to. I just have to hope that whatever I came here to do I succeeded at. I’ll need more information, but then we’ll get out of here. Do you remember anyone else?”

“Not really,” Joan said softly. “I don’t even remember you.”

“Ceasing to exist will do that,” Gil said. “It didn’t kill you, at least. Maybe it just killed the city. Have you lived there your whole life?”

“I don’t know,” Joan said.

“Maybe not, then,” Gil said before shaking their head. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll figure out how you know me.”

Joan gave a small nod. Even if she was worried about this dark, terrible fog, at least she wasn’t alone. She wondered what--

The ground shook and a ferocious roar filled the air, followed by an explosion. She grabbed the hand even tighter. “What was that?” Joan asked.

“That would be the Chosen,” Gil said. “They’ve got a fierce battle ahead of them, but they’ll be fine. Probably. I’d rather be out of here before then. If I’m going to have to fight Korgron again I’d like to know why we’re fighting.”

“I just had the weirdest feeling that I’ve heard that before,” Joan said.

“Wonderful,” Gil said. “Hopefully this time I did whatever I was trying right then. Come on.”

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Eventually the pair made it out from the city and into the surrounding fields, leaving the fog behind them. It did seem to be, slowly, clearing up. Once they were out of the fog it was so strange, how much clearer and safer everything felt. As if the darkness hanging over them was left behind.

Still, her memories didn’t return. They walked for what felt like hours, leaving the city far, far behind them. Joan kept her mouth shut, though. She didn’t know if Gil would leave her behind if she annoyed them, but she felt they might.

Eventually, though, Gil came to a stop. Joan didn’t understand why, they were just in the middle of a rocky, dirty field. Gil reached out and put a hand on her shoulder, pulling her close. “Hold onto me.”

“What?” Joan asked.

Then the ground opened up, swallowing them whole. She let out a shriek and grabbed on tight as they ‘fell’ into the ground. It felt a lot like falling into a deep pool of water, the ground moving under and over them until, finally, they dropped into a small chamber. The dirt lowered them before moving back up into the roof of the small, dark cave.

It was stuffy, but that wasn’t so bad. There was also a lot of light coming from a big, glowing door. Aside from the door, the only thing the chamber held was an old, collapsed pillar and a strange glimmering circle. “What is this place?” Joan asked.

“Ancient,” Gil said. “All that remains of a very, very old dwarven city. It’s enough, though.” The arm lifted off her shoulder and gave her a light push. “Go sit on that circle. I’ll be right back.”

“You will?” Joan asked. “Promise?”

“To you it’ll only be a moment,” Gil said before walking towards the doorway.

“What is that?” Joan asked, unable to stop herself from following them.

“Don’t worry about it,” Gil said. “It’s not for you.”

“Are you leaving?” Joan said.

“Just for a moment,” Gil said. They gave another light push towards the circle. “Just wait. I’ll be back before you even realize I’m gone.” They then reached out and touched the door with one hand. After a moment the glowing light of the door grew even brighter and then it disappeared. Gil gave a soft sigh before shaking their head. “Nothing can ever be simple, can it?”

“Are you going in there?” Joan asked.

Gil went entirely still for a moment before, very slowly, they turned their head towards her. They then looked between her and the door a few times. “You’re not frozen.”

“Should I be?” Joan asked.

“Yes,” Gil said. “How are you not… what are you? Is this why we were fighting? Is this why you feel safe with me? Ugh. Well, I guess this is just more questions to the pile. Come along then, Joan.” Gil reached up and pulled the gauntlet on their left hand off, dropping it on the ground besides the door. “I guess this is going to just get more complicated.”

“Where are we going?” Joan asked before nervously walking to stand besides the armored figure.

“To go figure out why I was there,” Gil said. “Who knows? Maybe we’ll even find out who you are. I wouldn’t be too hopeful about either, though.”

“Why?” Joan asked.

“The fates never give a straight answer about anything,” Gil said.